Thursday, February 23, 2017

You’re
never going to be understood by everyone all of the time, let’s
just get that out of the way right now. And of the ones that
understand you, only about half of them are going to like what you
say, if you’re lucky. And of those people, only a fraction are ever
going to be bothered to let you know what they think about
what you have to say. So, of everyone who could possibly ever leave
you a review of your writing, only one half of one half of a fraction
of a percent will ever do it. Don’t bother checking that math. I’m
pretty sure it’s right.

So,
my point is that I’m grateful for every review I get. I never
comment on any of them. It’s your review and you have every right
to express your opinion about my work. After all, I released it to
the public with the very expectation that some would love it, some
would hate it and most would be somewhere in between (hopefully more
on the love side, of course).

Some
critical reviews will be silly but some will raise some interesting
topics to think about. Take for instance a point one reviewer raised
in one of my Goodreads reviews. She seemed to like the book, mind
you, so it wasn’t a bad review, just a “meh” one. She said the
one thing that distracted her was my use of the “modern voice” in
a fantasy setting. I fully respect her tastes and understand that my
narrative voice isn’t for everyone, so I have no problem with her
review. Her observation does, however, raise a point that has always
bothered me about fantasy literature; the conspicuously uniform
narrative style used by most fantasy authors.

The
ones I grew up reading, as well as many today, like to use a late
19th century American or Victorian voice for most narration and then
throw in a smattering of Elizabethan terms during dialog to achieve
some sort of pseudo-medieval… errrm… sound, I guess? And this is
somehow supposed to be the “authentic” fantasy voice? I’m not
sure why this is so or how it got started (might be a fascinating
thesis paper for all you English Lit majors) but it isn’t at all an
actual medieval voice. First of all, such a voice would be called
“Middle English” and second of all it is utterly impenetrable.
Have you ever read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in its original text?
I have. It’s a foreign fucking language.

So, to me the use
of narrative voice for fantasy books has always seemed to be up to
the author’s whim. This is as it should be. It’s a fantasy world,
after all. It isn’t historical fiction. Even if it was, a reader
couldn’t read an authentic voice from classical/dark/medieval ages.
We can barely read texts from Shakespeare’s day. Know why we can
read texts from Shakespeare’s day and not before? It’s because he
invented the language we speak today. It’s called “Modern
English.” OK, maybe he didn’t invent it, but he was the first
author of his generation (that I know of, anyway – literature was
never my focus) to write how people actually talked.

After
him, you can largely trace the great writers of following generations
because they also bothered to write how people actually lived and
spoke in their own times. In our current generation, it’s
impossible for me to say for certain at this point. Maybe that’s
too difficult a task to accomplish for your own generation. Maybe
that’s a question for the ages. But, if I could switch mediums
simply to illustrate a point, I might say Quentin Tarantino would be
a good example in film/screenwriting. But, please, don’t tell him I
compared him to Shakespeare. His head is big enough as it is.

In
his writing, we see an honest approach to conveying how people in our
everyday lives live and speak. Even if these people are heroes and
villains of extraordinary proportions, they still engage in the same
common struggles and conversations as the rest of us. Hitmen discuss
the vagaries of human relationships, a man and a woman deflect sexual
tension by talking about the price of a milkshake, etc. Great
authors, in my opinion, invite everyone into their writing by
mirroring the way they perceive the people around them talking and
acting everyday. It’s the people who are alive you have to talk to,
not the dead ones.

I
guess that’s one reason why I chose such a “modern voice” for
my Grant Scotland novels. Another reason was simply as an homage to
noir detective novels. I realize it won’t be a voice everyone will
be drawn to, but I’m hoping it will help more people, authors and
readers alike, realize that there is no “authentic” fantasy
voice. The only authentic voice is your own.

Spy
for a Dead Empire

(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book One)

AELFA,
THE GRAND CAPITAL of the once mighty Aelfan Empire, has fallen.
Barbarian war parties and nomadic tribes harass the retreating and
broken legions that once overawed them. All that stands against them
now is the city of Zyren, the last bastion of Aelfan rule.

Acting
as a spy for Zyren is Grant Scotland, a man leading a double life
because his own had been taken away from him by the very people he
serves. An unwilling recruit into the business of clandestine
missions and deceit, he searches for anything real to cling to as the
world around him devolves into insanity. And when an old friend shows
up asking him to help save his family by delivering a mysterious book
to a shadowy figure, Grant's two lives collide and he is thrust into
an even stranger world than he had known; one where ancient magic is
wielded by deadly players who compete against one another for a prize
greater than simply the rotting carcass of a dead empire.

SpyforaTroubledKing

(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book Two)

AMONG
THE ASHES of the mighty Aelfan Empire, the House of Gregyan seeks to
forge a new kingdom—one where both Huthan and Aelfan alike can
prosper. But old prejudices and ancient traditions and an exiled
enemy threaten the peace. Caught between compassion for his home and
allegiance to his fallen empire, Grant Scotland finds himself trapped
in the turbulent machinations of enemies and friends. As he works to
uncover mysteries about his father’s treachery and confront new
threats to his future, he moves perilously close to revealing his
identity and losing everything.

SpyforaWaywardDaughter

(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book Three)

AS
THE GREGYANS MARCH TO WAR and his handler takes a trip to Zyren,
Grant Scotland, spy errant of the Aelfan Empire, gets ready to pursue
a lead on finding a man who might be able to tell him the truth about
his father's treason. Old friends, new enemies and hidden dangers
soon confront him on his quest, but when he enters the dark world of
another family's intrigue, he finds that not even the frontiers of
the Aelfan Empire are far enough away to escape the dangers of
fortune and fate.

Spy
for a Greedy Villain

(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Book Four)

RACIAL
TENSIONS IN AELFA simmer and threaten to boil over when the
harbormaster is found dead and the Huthan oppressors threaten to
crack down in the Lower Docks. As Grant Scotland finds more questions
than answers in the journals of Berthul Magnussen about his father’s
treachery, he is drawn into a murder investigation, a kidnapping plot
and the nefarious machinations of the city’s biggest crime lord—Mr.
Quinn. In order to stop Quinn’s plans and save the city from being
thrown into open revolt, Grant prepares to take his biggest gamble
yet.

The
Unlikely Spy

(Adventures
of Grant Scotland, Volume One)

The
Adventures of Grant Scotland series is an entertaining mix of
fantasy, mystery and espionage featuring a hero whose many faults
provide almost as much challenge to him as the formidable obstacles
he must face as he attempts to impose sanity upon a world rapidly
descending into chaos. Collected in this volume are the first three
books in the series: SpyforaDeadEmpire, SpyforaTroubledKing and SpyforaWaywardDaughter.

Excerpt

From
SpyforaGreedyVillain (Adventures of Grant Scotland, Book Four)

I
gave him a brief recap of my espionage activities over the past few
months, which included reports on the growth and temperament of the
One God followers, the coming and going of any Huthan notables and
the operations of Doogan and Quinn. At last I followed up with a
summary of the harbormaster investigation and finished with the
discovery of a ghost in the Lower Docks.

“There’s
no such things as ghosts, Scotland.”

“I
know, but I haven’t worked up a better nickname for him yet.”

“I’m
sure you’ll think of something. I have every confidence in your
ability to accomplish inane tasks of trivial importance.”

“Everybody
has to be good at something.”

“And
while your limited mental capabilities will no doubt be severely
taxed in that endeavor, I’ll do some checking into what could make
a man entirely concealed in plain sight.”

“You
mean invisible. You can just say invisible.”

“Were
I interested in being as lacking in attention to details as you, I
could use the word invisible, but luckily for the both of us I am
not. Complete invisibility is impossible. Not even the greatest
Aelfan wizards were ever able to accomplish such a feat. But, there
are several ways a man can remain unnoticed. Take me for instance.
For the eleventh time in a row you failed to spot me before I spotted
you.”

“How
am I not surprised you’ve been keeping score? At any rate, he
didn’t sneak up on me, I’m telling you I looked right through
him.”

“Except
his boots. Unless in addition to invisibility you also believe in the
existence of a sentient pair of boots?”

About
Dan

Writing
stories infused with the smoky charisma of classic film noir mixed
with the pulse-pounding excitement of adventure fantasy and the cagey
class of suspenseful espionage, Dan McClure brought the best parts of
all of our most cherished pulp together and added his own signature
brand of wit. He currently lives, writes and works in and around
beautiful and historic Arlington, Massachusetts.

What a wonderful post that Dan has provided. I have often wondered about this cumbersome voice fantasy writers seem to like to use. Why? This is fantasy. Why do I have to wade through often incomprehensible language? What is wrong with understandable English? One of the huge reasons I don't often read fantasy. I will be looking into Dan's books. I like the very idea of Sam Spade goes meeting Hobbits. Thank you. aka Becky Parsons